"And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, shall surely be put to death."

Exodus xxi. 16.

1. Throughout this work I have numbered the paragraphs, a practice which I find to be attended with numerous advantages. The work was published in Philadelphia in 1817.

2. The reader will perceive, that Mr. Torrey, the author of the work here presented to the public, has mixed his reflections with his narrative of facts. A different arrangement would have tended to clearness. But, as applicable to the English reader, there is a defect of greater importance; namely, the want of a description of the relative extent and situation of the Countries or States, in which this abominable slave trade is carried on. The author speaks of the Middle States, and the Southern States. He speaks of Maryland, of Delaware; and, then again, of Georgia, Carolina, Mississippi; but the English reader ought to be told, and have pretty clearly explained to him, how these several Countries lie with regard to each other; and, that he may judge of the magnitude of the evil, he ought to be informed over how large a part of the whole of the United States Slavery does actually extend. He ought further to be informed of the nature of the Governments, and of the laws, as far as these latter relate to Slavery. For, he must otherwise naturally be astonished to find that this dreadful traffic is carried on with impunity. He hears Mr. Torrey talk of Judges, Senators, Governors, Presidents, speaking against this traffic; and yet he finds it most vigorously carried on; and actually making a part of the internal trade of the Country; at which he is utterly astounded, so often hearing the virtues of Republicans sounded in his ears, and being informed that Mr. Jeremy Bentham is actually engaged, at this moment, in the Southern Peninsula of Europe, to teach the art of Constitution-making upon the American plan. The book stands, therefore, in need of a Preface to explain these matters a little; and such Preface I am now doing myself the honour to write.

3. For want of a map, I must resort to a description by words. The States lie in the following order, along the side of the Atlantic from North to South, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut. The four latter are called the New England States, Maine being a new territory or State lying to the North and going on to the British territory of New Brunswick. After Connecticut, going on to the Southward, come New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. These five are called the Middle States. Then come, on to the Southward, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and the Floridas. These are called the Southern States. Then, going back to the North again, Vermont lies in at the back of the four New England States, on the western side of a long ridge of mountains. At the back of Pennsylvania are the States of Ohio, Indiana, and the district of the ill-fated creatures that have followed Mr. Birkbeck, called the Illinois. At the back of Virginia is Kentucky, at the back of North Carolina is Tennessee, at the back of South Carolina and Georgia and Florida are Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Some of these are not yet recognised as independent States. Now then, all to the South of Maryland, front and back, containing ten States, and, I believe, Indiana into the bargain. However, all to the South of Maryland is real unmodified, unmitigated, unrestrained Slavery; and this is that part of the United States which produces tobacco, cotton, sugar, and rice. This is the rich part of the United States; twice as extensive as all the rest; continually growing in population and cultivation; and, as Mr. Torrey observes, containing a larger portion of personal slavery, than any other part of the globe.

4. So much for the Geography of the subject. Now, as to the Governments, this is the state of the case. The United States (with the exception of a small spot to be mentioned by and by) extend from Canada and New Brunswick, which lie to the North, to the Gulf of Mexico on the South, seeing that the Floridas are now to make part of this territory. They extend to the west, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Great part of this western territory is, as yet, wholly uninhabited by white people. But, the Country is inhabited more or less thickly from the North to the South on the side of the Atlantic, and the space between the utmost points is about seventeen hundred miles. This territory is divided into States, each of which is independent of all the rest. Each has its Chief Magistrate, its Legislature, its Judiciary, and its own Code of Laws. It raises its own internal taxes; has its own Militia; and is, in fact, an independent State, with the following exceptions; namely, that it has nothing to do, and can have no particular connexion, with any Foreign Nation; can make no laws with regard to external commerce; can make neither peace nor war; and is bound to join the other States in case of war or peace. These matters are all left to the Congress, which is composed of a President, a Senate, and a House of Representatives. This body manages the affairs of the whole Country as far as relates to peace and war, and as far as relates to external Commerce, and to all connexions with Foreign Nations.

5. So that the Congress can make no Law touching the internal economy and jurisdiction of any of the States, each of which, may pass what laws it pleases, so that those laws do not contravene the common compact, contained in the document, or, act of Congress, usually denominated the Constitution of the United States. Now, that compact does by no means prohibit the existence of Slavery; but, on the contrary, expressly recognises its legality; and this was one of the conditions, upon which the Union was founded.

6. As to the several States, Slavery did exist in all, except, perhaps, Indiana and Ohio; and, I believe, there also. I mean that it existed without any modification by law. That is to say, Slaves and the children of Slaves were as much a white man's property as horses and the young ones of horses. In Maryland (we are now going towards the North) there is now a mitigation of some sort; also in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and the New England, States. I do not know whether an absolute abolition has taken place in any State; though I believe it has. In the State of New York the law made all free that were born after a certain period; and after another certain period, those born slaves were to become free. I cannot take upon me to say exactly how the thing stands with regard to these States; but I believe, that if you bring your slave into a State with you, he does not become free by that act of yours; and that, if he escape from you and go into one of these States, he may be lawfully seized as a slave and taken away. Delaware State and Maryland, which lie to the South of Pennsylvania and join on to Virginia, appear, as the reader will find, to be the principal theatre of the Slave Trade, though, as will be seen, the villains who carry on the traffic have the audacity to carry it on even in the City of Philadelphia.

7. So much for the States. Now, which is very material to observe, the Congress, that is to say, the Government of the Union, has had allotted to it a territorial jurisdiction, exclusive of all the States. This spot is on the Potomac River, which divides Maryland from Virginia. The territory thus allotted is a piece of land ten miles square, in the centre of which is the City of Washington. Now, we shall find this spot to be the very focus of the Slave Trade. The reader will see, in paragraph 46. an account of a drove of chained Negroes marching under the Capitol of this very City; and Mr. Torrey gives an account of Members of Congress standing at the threshold of the building, viewing, on their march by, a troop of manacled slaves, one of whom raised up his manacled hands towards the building, while he sang, what Mr. Torrey calls the favourite National Song, "Hail Columbia, happy Land! Hail the freest of the free!" This spot is called the district of Columbia; and on this spot, Mr. Torrey tells us Slaves were employed when he was there, to re-erect the building burned down by the British. Yea, Slaves employed to raise up the magnificent Temple of Freedom!

8. With this sketch before him, the reader will enter on this public spirited, humane, and highly meritorious gentleman's book with a tolerable chance of pretty clearly understanding the state of the matter as a whole. The book will Speak for itself; and it will have this effect, amongst others, as far as it go, namely, to convince us, that we ought not to be incessantly railing against West India Slave Holders, while we see Slavery existing to such an extent, and the Slave Trade carried on with such shocking cruelty, in a Country which, throughout the world is famed for its freedom. There are acts recorded in this book; acts committed with perfect impunity; that West India Slave Holders would be put to death for attempting; a fact which, amongst thousands of others that might be cited, proves, that there is no tyranny equal to that, which is practised under the names and forms of liberty.

9. The Congress of America have passed a resolution to authorize their Ambassador to negociate with our Government for the sending out of a joint squadron of Observation to the coast of Africa, to prevent a violation of the treaties relative to the Slave Trade. I trust that our government will not tax the blood and bones of Englishmen for any such purpose, while Negroes, free as well as enslaved, can be killed with impunity in the United States, and while a trade in the bodies of slaves actually forms a part of the internal commerce of that Country, the magazines of which commerce are in the very spot where the Congress holds its sittings.

10. I do not bring any accusation against the people of the United States generally, and particularly to the North of Maryland. It has required great virtue and self denial to do what has been done in the middle and Northern States, in order to get rid of this stain upon the Country. In the parts where I have lived, and where there is any thing of Slavery remaining, I have always observed great gentleness and goodness in the owners towards their slaves, whom they treat with great kindness and care, and whom they feed and clothe exceedingly well. But, while I have always heard them lamenting the existence of Slavery in their Country, I cannot be so unjust, I cannot act so unnatural a part, as to conclude that our own West India Planters must be cruel and brutal; seeing that Slavery exists to so great an extent in America, notwithstanding the very prevalent and strong disposition to do it away. How great must be the difficulty to accomplish this, let the reader judge; and how foolish, then, must the Government of this Country be, if it think to accomplish any thing similar to it, merely, because the thing is called for by a set of visionaries, or, what is worse, by a set of hypocrites, who, by an appeal to the best feelings of the popular heart, knowing all the while that they are misleading the understanding, endeavour to gratify their own selfish ambition!

Wm. COBBETT.

Kensington, 18 Sept. 1821.